Third search of river fails to locate missing Wareham man

WAREHAM — Authorities, still hoping to locate a local man who disappeared two months ago, on Wednesday once again searched the river that 39-year-old Scott J. Kilroe was most familiar with.

CURT BROWN

WAREHAM — Authorities, still hoping to locate a local man who disappeared two months ago, on Wednesday once again searched the river that 39-year-old Scott J. Kilroe was most familiar with.

For the second time in two days, divers searched the Wareham River for any signs of Kilroe, police said. Divers also had searched the same water last month.

Lt. Kevin Walsh, Police Department public information officer, said Kilroe was last seen about 5 p.m. Feb. 12.

Plans are to resume the search this morning with a flyover of low-lying areas along the river by a State Police helicopter. The helicopter had planned to join Wednesday's search, but was diverted to help at an emergency, said Sgt. Blake Gilmore, commander of the State Police Underwater Recovery Unit.

Walsh said the third search of the river was conducted "just to make sure" authorities could not find Kilroe. "We did it just to cover the bases," he said.

He could not say why authorities have focused so much attention on the river except to say that Kilroe is from the Parkwood Beach area.

Police also have conducted land searches for Kilroe and there have been no reported sightings of him since Feb. 12, according to Walsh.

"We have no solid leads as to his whereabouts," he said. "We don't know if he just decided to go."

Foul play is not suspected, according to Walsh.

Kilroe's father, James Kilroe, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Haskell said five Fire Department divers and three State Police divers searched the river to depths of 20 feet from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Conditions on the water were calm and the water temperature was 50 degrees.

Then for two hours, a State Police boat, equipped with sonar, searched the river for any sign of the missing man. The sonar sends out radio waves as it scans the river bottom and transmits 3D images that are read on a laptop aboard the boat, according to Trooper Patrick Foley of the Underwater Recovery Unit.

Between the three underwater searches, Haskell estimated divers have searched and scanned a two-square mile area of the river from the Narrows to Parkwood Beach.

Kilroe is described by police as a white male, approximately 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing about 155 pounds with short brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call police at 508-295-1212; the anonymous tip line at 508-291-2300; or use the anonymous "Text-A-Tip" feature through the department's Web site www.warehampolice.com.